Page 72 of The Hunt

“Get ready, players. The Hunt begins now.”

16

Everly

Nothing happened.

We all stood on the beach, motionless and silent, with no idea what to do next. I felt like I was in one of those movies where a giant tumbleweed was about to roll past.

“Well… that was anticlimactic,” someone finally said, breaking the tense silence.

A few chuckles rippled through the group, hesitant and uneasy.

“Yeah,” another guy said, shrugging. “Does anyone actually know what to do?”

“Well, I guess we have to wait for the hunters to leave their starting zone, right? They’re probably on their way to—”

Crack.

A sharp, almost-deafening sound split the air, and the guy’s words ended abruptly as his head snapped back, blood spraying like a macabre fountain. He crumpled to the sand in a lifeless heap.

For a moment, everything froze.

I stared at his body, my mind struggling to catch up with what my eyes were seeing. The metallic scent of blood filled the air, blending with the salt of the ocean.

Then the screaming started.

Chaos erupted around me as everyone bolted in different directions, their panicked cries overlapping.

More gunshots shattered the air, sending up puffs of sand as bullets slammed into the beach. My legs locked in place. I couldn’t move. All I could do was gape at the body lying in front of me, blood pooling beneath it, and all I could think was:Rhett was right about me.

I wasn’t brave. I wasn’t a badass. I was just a scared little girl who caved under pressure.

“Everly!” Nikki’s voice pierced through the chaos.

I turned my head numbly, catching sight of her waving frantically from the edge of the forest.

“Come on! Get to the trees for cover!” she screamed.

Another bullet whizzed past me. That snapped me out of my stupor. I stumbled forward, my legs finally obeying, and sprinted toward Nikki, heart pounding so hard it felt like it might burst.

A voice crackled through my earbud. “Player 13, eliminated by Hunter 7,” it announced. “Players, the first safe zones are at coordinates 12.5, 89.3 and 10.4, 85.9. I repeat: 12.5, 89.3 and 10.4, 85.9. They open in one hour and will remain safe until midnight. Good luck!”

I caught up to Nikki, and we hurried into the forest. She lifted a hand a few seconds later, abruptly stopping me. “Don’t run unless you absolutely have to,” she said, glancing over her shoulder. “It makes a lot of noise. You’re practically announcing your location to anyone nearby.”

I nodded, gripping the straps of my backpack tightly. The air felt tense, each step a challenge to keep steady.

Suddenly, the sound of frantic panting and twigs snapping reached my ears, growing louder with each second. Someone was running through the trees not far from us. Then, a sharp crack split the air, and the sound stopped abruptly.

Nikki froze, her head turning toward the direction of the shot. Her lips pressed into a grim line as a voice crackled through our earbuds. “Player 19, eliminated by Hunter 13.”

She shook her head and sighed. “See?” she whispered. “Running just makes you an easy target.”

I nodded, heart pounding, and kept treading lightly through the forest. Nikki moved ahead of me, her footsteps barely a whisper, and I did my best to mimic her careful movements. Every now and then, she turned back to share a quick tip on evading capture.

“How do you know so much about this stuff?” I eventually asked in a hushed tone.

“I used to hunt with my dad when I was a kid growing up in the boonies,” she whispered back. “I thought all that knowledge would come in helpful for a game like this. That’s why I signed up. I thought I could actually win. But I didn’t know it wasreal.”

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